What the ???

[Slamming Sam 4]

Please help me.

My brain has failed to distinguish reality from fiction!! Am I in the twilight zone???

Didn’t we play well last week? Unluckily beaten by 11 goals (should’ve been 20!) but in the game to the last gasp!

So we make ONE CHANGE – which was probably very close to “out injured”.

Was dropping Leigh Harding from the week before the cause of an 89 point turnaround???

Before having a crack at me let’s look at the facts.

- This is the same core team that finished 13th last year only ahead of St. Kilda, Freo and West Coast (I think).

- This year we have three wins – an emotional charged victory against Port, and close wins to Bulldogs and Carlton, where both results were in the balance until the last 10 minutes. Port aside we have only beaten the 15th and 16th (injury riddled) side.

- We should’ve beaten Geelong and the Swans – BUT WE DIDN’T.


So after a non-competitive performance we make ONE CHANGE. Our opposition this week has made 6 changes after a 9 goal defeat – 2 of these compulsory.

So the message the club sends to our VFL players is that you are not good enough, so hang around to trading week when we’ll clean you out to reach your full potential at another club.

What a slur to guys like Rod Crowe, Hugh Foott, David Hale, Daniel Harris, Adam Lange, Joe McLaren, Daniel Pratt, Jess Sinclair, Dylan Smith, David Teague and particularly Drew Petrie. They can look forward to playing their guts out and be B.O.G. for many weeks on end, only to be overlooked or, worse, promoted to the seniors to SIT ON THE BENCH for three and a half quarters and then put on in a position totally foreign to them.

Yesterday I was fuming with that fat prick McMahon’s comments. He is still wrong today – we may be dead in 2 Years!!!.

I hope the boys prove me wrong on the weekend but I’ll stand by this.

Give the kids a fair dinkum go to prove if they have it or not.

 

[moomba]

I was thinking the same way but I think the lack of changes sends a message to the players that it was just a one off and not indicative of a wider problem.

I also think West Coast away is not the best time to be running new or inexperienced kids into the side, it is a time for old hands.

Having said that if we cop a flogging this week I am sure that changes will be made.

Moomba

 

[tashibatts]

I think there should have been at least 1 more change:
Watt (Out)
Crowe (In)

IMO Watt will NEVER make it as a FB player.. and as thats really the only spot we have for him at the moment, he shouldnt be playing.. he should be in the magoos..

Crowe or Foott are the options to come in, I see Foott as a player that is going to be developed slowly, nobody knew who he was at the draft, I saw ONE person who knew of him.. he didnt even have a profile.. sheesh.. so I reckon he will be slowly developed, meanwhile Crowe was a bit more known- and I think he will be developed quicker.. and I reckon we need to start giving him experience NOW.. because at the end of the year there will be NO MICK.. MIck will be in retirement next year, and I think Crowe needs some experience this year rather than being chucked in the deep end next year.. because there wont be Mick.. and there might not even be Watt (We may delist him if he cant find a spot this year.. I think its pretty likely)

So rather than chucking Crowe into the deep end beffore he learns to stay afloat, give him 8-10 games this year (I would say while Mick is injured, I am sure he will be injured for that amount of time) and also alternate him with Mick a bit when Mick is playing.. coz then he can watch Mick, Mick can come onto the bench for a breather (Also give Crowe some advice, via the runners) and have Mick as backup..

By next year he wont have the 1st/2nd/3rd game jitters.. he'll know what he has to do- and next year he'll gain more experience... and assuming all goes to plan, he should be a pretty established FB by time he's 21/22 years of age (I am assumin hes 18/19 currently) Its not like hes in dire need of bulking up or nething.. its not like hes underweight.. and that little less weight means he can run a lil quicka and be a lil more agile..

JMO

Go Roos

 

[Malibu]

Good point Slammin Sam, I thought after last Saturday's effort, the VFL boys would of really stood up for a chance for selection. Well Turtle and Dish did and lucky for Turtle, he was rewarded.

Petrie has surely gotta get a call up soon.

 

[Groucho]

I agree with moomba here. The changes will definitely come IF we cop a pasting this week but it is reasonable to treat the Hawk game as a "one off shocker " at this stage. It should be remembered that,apart from Petrie and maybe Teague,the young brigade aren't exactly banging the door down to get in,their forms been a little disappointing and a few won't be ready for a while yet. I also think they're just playing Lange's contract out this year and seem to have already made a decision on McLaren as back up material only. We've also had surprisingly few injuries so players who would be getting a go as a matter of course aren't getting a chance.

 

[Carlos]

This may sound hypocritical considering i dont always endorse his methods, but i think we should trust Denis on this one.

Since the dramas earlier this year, the guy has been outstanding with his positivity and the way he has steered the club. We have no right to be 3-3 after what we went through. If Essendon lost Hird because he porked Lloyd's missus (why couldnt it have been them!?!?!) they would have gone to water. But we have still been competitive until last week and have displayed unbelievable character and strength. This starts at the top and i attribute this to Denis.

He took over a rabble in 93 and turned us into the best team in the comp for the majority of that year. How? Through being positive and pro-active.

If he was seen to make wholesale changes after one poor showing, what signals would that send to the rest of the football world? What damage would that have on the club's morale? He is showing faith and instilling confidence in the group. Whether that is artificial or not will be found out in coming weeks. But being reactionary and dropping blokes left right and center after one bad loss serves no positive purpose right now. Look at the bigger picture.

 

[Slamming Sam 4]

All good points raised here but let's not get past the fact that we were schallacked on occasions last year as well and still no response.

Look at the improvement for a few weeks when Shagga was dropped last year. We have TOO many guys in the comfort zone who only bother turning up every 4 or 5 weeks knowing they won't be dropped.

Other sides that have given kids a chance and hit paydirt - Judd at the Eagles, Rodan at Richmond, Mott in Sydney, Ries -Hawthorn, Rooke and Bartel at Geelong, to name a few.

And look at Jonathon Brown last year.

We should have learned from these sides.

 

[Carlos]

Originally posted by Slamming Sam 4
All good points raised here but let's not get past the fact that we were schallacked on occasions last year as well and still no response.

Look at the improvement for a few weeks when Shagga was dropped last year. We have TOO many guys in the comfort zone who only bother turning up every 4 or 5 weeks knowing they won't be dropped.

Other sides that have given kids a chance and hit paydirt - Judd at the Eagles, Rodan at Richmond, Mott in Sydney, Ries -Hawthorn, Rooke and Bartel at Geelong, to name a few.

And look at Jonathon Brown last year.

We should have learned from these sides.

Ordinarily, i'd be agreeing 100% and then some. His reluctance to give kids a real go and develop them is one of my biggest frustrations.

But, at the risk of treating them with kid gloves and opening the door for a little bit of complacency, i think he is trying to juggle being sensative in what has been a highly emotionally charged time and moving the football team forward.

 

[jont2021]

Pagan said on the 927 North show on Wednesday night that he received a report from the other coaching staff that our reserves put in a shocker and that the coaching staff were very disappointed with a few players that they had hoped would step up last week. Brain is not thinking this morning so I can't remember who the players were that Pagan mentioned, but he was very honest in his assessment.

It's like a double edged sword, we need our reserves to be really firing to put pressure on the seniors but if they're not then Denis doesn't have many other options.

I do think Sinclair is a class player and should be in the seniors but I don't know who I would take out to put him in.

 

[roobear]

Originally posted by jont2021
Brain is not thinking this morning so I can't remember who the players were that Pagan mentioned, but he was very honest in his assessment.

I think it was Petrie, Harris and Smith who he singled out. He mentioned that Petrie had been playing fantastically, but he was tried at CHF and wasn't able to deliver. The inference was that he wasn't up to Porter and Spider just yet as far as rucking goes...

 

[Melly017]

The M.K have lost the last three i think.....i know they are there to learn and put pressure on the snr.... lets remember that its a team game and as a team the M.K are not playing well enuff to win...i agree that we should have given drew & jess a chance and a few blokes are on thin ice.....but team game

 

[roowatch]

To be fair to our selectors, before the shocker last week we were in with a chance to win the first 5 games - but stuffed 2 up. There is a long way to go this season and I think the core of players who put us in those winning positions deserve a chance to redeem themselves. The coaching staff would still be eyeing off bottom spot in the eight, and to go to youth now would destroy that. Any more performances like last week however will indicate that the group is not up to it and the youngsters should GRADUALLY be introduced.

As for the young players at other Clubs doing well, some of that has been forced upon them by injuries (Mott at Sydney) or a decision to stauuf results play the kids attitude (Geelong, and lesser West Coast). History tells us that they will get roller coaster performances throughout the year and that the young players will wear down as the year develops.
have no problem at us looking at our youngsters in the second half of the year with an eye to 2003. They could play as many games as young players elsewhere who have played early and will tire.

(We also have had few injuries so far which usually creates opportunity)

 

[joybell27]

Originally posted by jont2021
Brain is not thinking this morning so I can't remember who the players were that Pagan mentioned, but he was very honest in his assessment.

Pagan said that they had been very happy with the form of Petrie this year. He said Petrie played his worst game against Box Hill but they had been trying him in a different position (CHF I think). He also mentioned that Teague has shown good form.

Pagan did say that Harris and Smith had been ordinary and still had to show that they were ready to play at the senior level.

 

[kymhodgemansmo]

The only logical reasoning behind this would be that Pagan is trying to engineer a group of players in a not too dissimilar fashion to his UNder 19 sides.

Perhaps he is trying to make these players develop together, rather than individually, giving a few of the players an opportunity, so that they are hardened and ready to perform together as a group when oportuniities arrive due to retirements, injuries etc.

PLease lt this be the case, because my frustration couldn't be any greater right now given the apparent "ability" of Harris, Smith Petrie, Pratt etc and their lack of opportunities.